CHAPTER I.
ORIGIN OF COATS OF ARMS.
Heraldry is the science which teaches how to blazon or describe in proper terms armorial bearings and their accessories.
Many volumes have been written on the origin of Heraldry and even on the antiquity of separate charges contained in an escutcheon: it would be filling the pages of an elementary work on Heraldry to little purpose to enter upon an inquiry as to the exact period of the introduction of an art... more...

AUTHOR’S PREFACE
This Volume, specially prepared for the use of students at an early period of their study of English Heraldry, commends itself also to those inquirers who may desire to obtain some general information on the same subject, without having any intention to devote to Heraldry much either of their time or of their serious regard.
The success, no less extraordinary than gratifying, of my larger work on Heraldry, led me to hope... more...